Friday, August 12, 2011

* I WONDER *

It's Friday and time for another "I Wonder."

Usually, I can't read more than one book at a time, although I know many of you can. Right now, though, I'm reading two :

1) The Wildwater Walking Club, by Claire Cook (love her books)

2) Reading & Writing from Literature (textbook)


1) I'm only on Chapter 8 (which are called Days, not Chapters....three women walk together every day...so it's Day 1, etc.) but I know I'll zip right through it.

2) I LOVE the textbook! I have no idea where it came from and it looks brand new. I discovered it last week when I was in the midst of my on-going-loft de-cluttering. There are three book shelves in a room not big enough for them, plus the other furniture. Anyway, why do I love this book? Many reasons:

The Paper. It is almost tissue paper thin. It is so delicate that I touch and turn the pages as if they were made of ...what ?...something so precious I'd never want them to break.

The Scent: Have you ever stuck your nose inside a book? Come on, admit it. It's not too weird. It smells as lovely as the paper is delicate.

The Multitude of Remarkable Writers and Knowledge: Ray Bradbury, Walt Whitman, James Joyce, Eugene O'Neill, Maya Angelou, etc.etc.etc! Short stories, poems, essays, and plays. Point of View, Characters, Dialogue.

I feel the way I did when I was a young girl in September, and it was time for school to start again.

So, my I Wonder for today is: How many books can you read at the same time? What are you reading now? AND, do you like the scent of a book?


"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."-- Charles W. Eliot



19 comments:

  1. I'm reading two right now. One, my "purse book" - to be read while I'm waiting in the car, is The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, by Alexander McCall Smith. It's one of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency stories.

    My other book, which I received from Jenners, a blogger who introduces me to books I wouldn't normally read, is What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty. Alice has suffered a head injury and loses all memory from the past decade of her life.

    I think I'll go read now!

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  2. I can read more than one at a time, but I'd much rather focus on just one. I'd rather stay caught up in it all the way to the end. I like the quote on your post today.

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  3. I am a one at a time book reader. Always have been. I am currently reading 'Pawley's Island' by Dorothea Benton Frank. I also love Clare Cooks books! She has been on my reading list this summer for sure. Of course I read books to Tiger whenever I get the chance! hugs, Linda

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  4. I am reading on my book club's fall books. I finished Empire of the Sun which is about
    Quanah Parker and the Comanche. Fascinating! And now I am few chapters into Unbroken which is proving to be equally good with a WWII setting and story of Louie Zampernini. Both just happened to be nonfiction this time. In between I read The Personal History of Rachel Dupree, a novel of a woman homesteading in South Dakota Badlands. Three great ones in a row for me!!!

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  5. Hi Becky, I use to read 2 at a time, now it's one darling. I just put down a book to get on here. lol... Books are my escape from the real world.. into someone else's life and problems...
    hugs ~lynne~

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  6. I can comfortably read three books at a time. One at school, one in the living room, and one downstairs by my recliner.

    Right now I am in the midst of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (Heidi Durrow), It's All Relative (Wade Rouse), and A Writer's Guide to Nonfiction (Elizabeth Lyon).

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  7. Oh, I LOVE the way a book smells. And when it comes to reading, it's not unusual for me to read several books at one time. Especially if one's a library book I have to return. Right now, I'm reading "Cleopatra's Moon" by my friend, Vicky Shecter. But I'd read it, even if we were complete strangers! :-)

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  8. Hi June, Daisy, Linda, Bookie, Lynne, & Val! Thanks for stopping and commenting. I love hearing what all you're reading. But no one has said anything about any "book smelling"...does that not happen in your neck of the woods??!!

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  9. Yay, Cathy C!! Another book smeller! :D
    (I knew there were lots of reasons I like you!)
    You must've been leaving your comment at the same time I left mine!

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  10. I've done it before, but usually only when I'm not that "into" either one. If a book really grabs me, I don't want to read anything else!

    Pat
    www.critteralley.blogspot.com

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  11. If it's a book that I've waited on for a long (like "A Thousand Splendid Suns") I will get a whiff of it lovingly, but usually, I'm not a sniffer.

    I usually have a couple of books going at one time.

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  12. I can't read too many books at a time, maybe go up to two, but not more than that.

    Right now I'm finishing "I did, but I wouldn't now" and am looking forward to reading something new these following days. Haven't decided yet what that will be :)

    And I love the scent of a book! (and also used books, they're the best carrying so much history going through a few owners) :)

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  13. I used to be able to keep four or five books going at one time. Now it takes me several pages in to realize what story I'm reading so I've cut back to two. An upstairs book and a downstairs book.

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  14. First, Becky, Thanks for your encouraging comment on my latest post on The Red Sweater. You are always so supportive.

    Now, about reading books.

    I have cataracts on both eyes that are not "ready " to be removed, so reading has become difficult. My vision gets blurred after about 40 minutes. So, I let my ears do the reading for me and download books from Audible to my iPod and listen to them. The best I've listened to lately is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. There are four woman reading the dialogue, and it is spellbinding.

    Oh, and I stick my nose between the leaves of a book every now and then just 'cause I can!

    Namaste.........cj

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  15. It's already Saturday so I should read one on time management.

    But I do usually read more than one at a time. Though lately, I don't read as much. Not sure why.

    Usually, I read books on Spirituality, memoirs, poetry and writing.

    Have a great weekend Becky.

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  16. I'm a literature teacher so sometimes I have to read more than one book at a time. During the school year I am usually reading five, one for each grade I teach, plus one just for me that I read at home. During the summer, I stick to one or two. Right now I'm reading a historical fiction on Patrick Henry. And I LOVE the smell of books. Whenever I get a new book, I always give it the sniff test. One of my favorite smells in the world is the scent of a bookstore--even better if it's a bookstore that sells old books.

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  17. I love the smell of book stores and libraries.

    And I only read one book at a time because I read them pretty quickly and intensely.

    I go through many books every month, now that I'm retired. (This isn't as decadent as it sounds, because I'm a pretty fast reader.)

    =)

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  18. I start back teaching very soon. I can only hope my students are as excited about their textbooks as you are!

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  19. Oh yeah, reading more than one. Native Sons by James Baldwin & Sol Stein (I thought I was picking up Notes of a Native Son), but this is interesting. The Year the Music Changed by Diane Thomas and The New Birth Order Book by
    Dr, Kevin Leman and just last week I read The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff and Things We Didn't Say by Kristina Riggle. (I read those two one after another and not at the same time). Usually I'm a slow reader... I wonder what's up?

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